card gift wrap

a simple way to wrap a print/photo/children's drawing gift into a card...

 

 

cut out a simple deisgn,  then fold paper,

wrap gift in colored tissue paper and insert :)

 

willow branch advent mobile

just some willow branches intertwined into a circle,

wrapped in jute ribbon and red twine

attached straw ornaments

 

 

tip: when weaving the circle, you need to tie

the intertwining branches in at least 3 places

to keep the unruly branches in place :)! after tied, 

you can form it a little more - to make a nicer circle ;)

papier-mache hot air balloon decoration

we used this pinata tutorial, only ours is a decorative and healthier version.....no candy ;)

 

p.s. this tutorial uses the flour-water "glue" - great for smaller kids!

 

a craft for both of the boys :)..... i love it when they work together!

a play-hole in our coffee table

you can't see them on the photos, but there are A LOT of holes/dents in our wooden coffee table!...we bought it 4 yrs ago, and it's basically it's the boys' play table, so a lot of damage has been done(...luckily it was really cheap)!
so i decided to contribute with a hole also, but this one is not from play but FOR play! and it's not going to be just for marbles!

i used a forstner drill bit so i could cover it up with a faux wood knot

 

...St just loves to just drop the marbles into the hole

(we put a bowl underneath the hole to catch the marbles)

 

 

p.s. i plan on making some interchangable wood knots

for other activities...and maybe some more holes ;)

 

twine fish

 just twine and glue :

 

i dipped my fingers in glue and applied it to the twine until it was soaked with glue,

then layed it flat onto non-stick baking paper and formed it into a fish shape :)

 

tips:

- if yor twine is really thin, braid it first.

- if you use alot of twine, it will be heavy and the shape

could deform after being hung for a while.....but you

could glue it onto paper and have it as a picture instead :)

- it's fun to play with the shadows!

simple bias tape holder

i love the new pretty "stripes" of color on my sewing-corner of my desk :)...instead of being in a stacking container on a shelf!


need:
- piece of wood
(mine was a piece of scrap wood i had lying around :)
- wooden dowels
- drill + bit(dowel size)
- empty paper spools
or
- make little paper rolls

tips:
- i cut the paper spools using a saw
- when you run out of spools like i did :), you can make little paper rolls - cut strips of paper and twirl around a dowel (or something that has a little larger circumference than your dowel holders), applying glue to the outside "beginning" end(before twirling) and the inside "end" end

 

....and if you don't have one yet, make a holder for your spools of thread too :)!

bottoms-up-cup!

turn your cup upside down and draw on the bottom!

 

 

i used:

- dishware-safe and dishwasher-safe PEBEO markers (these require "baking" )

- and these really(!!!) cheap IKEA cups

important!: you need to make sure that your cup/dishware has a raised rim, otherwise when in use, you will end up scraping off the drawing. the ikea cups have a raised ring, but warning! - they also have their labeling on it, but it didn't bother me and i worked around it :)

 

 

it's fun to drink out of and completely food/liquid safe, since the paint is on the outside.

 

tips:

- if you are using these markers for the first time, it's good to try it out on what i call a "doodle jar" (which is now my paint water jar)

- this is not much of a craft for small children (like my Ji) - it requires some patience, especially if you are also drawing on the circumference of the cup

- if you mess up, don't worry!...if it's still wet, wipe it off, if dry scrape it off - i use my glass-stove-top-scraper.

 

p.s. this is a general decorating tip/trick - i used dots here because i love dots, but they can also be helpful when it's hard to draw a straight line/outines. i came up with this trick when i was decorating christmas cookies....i was having a hard time to draw straight lines with the unruly frosting. so i came up with "dotting" - it made nice, unmessy outlines and looked cute too! 

 

t-shirt stenciling by the boys :)

 

using freezer paper, Ji and his friend drew a drawing, i cut it out with

my exacto, ironed it on the shirts and the boys did the painting.....

 

 

 supplies: non-toxic textile paints, sponge brushes, newspaper spread and

a plastic bag inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't soak through 

 

 

 we used a dabb-and-brush technique and started with the edges,

then filled in the center

 

 

let it dry, and peel the freezer paper off! yay!!!

 

 

colored pencil on wood

 

Ji drew a pine tree and a mushroom on a

wooden "cup" for Sl for his name day today

... when it comes to small art, i like using colored pencils

more than paint - nicer detail and a lot less messy :)!!!

after, give it a coat of translucent paint so it won't smear.

felt conifer christmas garland

....same directions as my garland wand,

only(as you can see) i didn't make such
large gaps in between the felt strips.
- my strips are approx. 3cm wide.

p.s. - place your strips onto your sewing
machine - makes the "feeding" go so
much more faster, than when you have
them on the table....found that out when
i was almost finished.

p.p.s. - a wreath would be nice too!

     

         p.p.p.s.  h a p p y  second advent sunday!

easy standing felt christmas tree

 i was making an ornament-a-day felt xmas tree for the boys, and Ji wanted to make his own, so we made an easier version for him - not that mine is anything difficult, but i was making a sewn and stuffed version that will have a wooden stand...that i still need to finish :s .....Ji dressed his already :)

  

Ji's tree:

corrugated cardboard
felt

toothpick

tools: pencil, scissors, glue stick

  

directions:

1. CUT OUT cb triangle and 2 rectangles (stand)

2. TRACE, CUT and GLUE felt
3. make STAND
DECORATE!!!


 1. cut out the triangle with the ribs going verticallly - this is important so you can stick your toothpick into one of the ribs (that way, it will be hidden and won't make a bump under the felt).
2. cut the triangles a little larger than the drawn triangle - it looks better ;), use 2 different greens - more fun :), glue with glue STICK - liquid glue could soak through the felt.
3. glue the 2 rectangles together (plain or "x"), make a hole in the center w/ your toothpick, then apply glue to both ends and stick one end into your stand and slide other end into the center rib of the cardboard

decorate!!!:
with felt scraps, thread, string....anything that will latch onto the felt (.....or when doing with older children you can use pins to pin on just about anything!)

or you can glue on your "ornaments", but i like the no-glue method more, since you can redress your tree as you like :)

tip: we found it best to decorate by holding the tree in the air by its toothpick - gives you more control   

plastic-bottle-marble-rattle

St has learned to crawl......so i'm constantly in the need of things to keep him busy to get anything(!!!) done around the house. when Ji was little, i learned that most of the time ordinary household items are far more interesting than real toys....or a combo of the two :)...

just water in the bottle was fun, but the marbles

swirling around (or both :) were even more fun :)

make sure the lid is on really tight!

the shadow of the bottle was pretty cool also...

sock-pea-bags

i've had a bunch of boys' socks in need of toe-repair in my "repair basket" for a couple of months(!!!) and had been contemplating, if i should repair them or just up/down cycle them as cleaning rags, when the other day i got the idea of making quick and easy play pea-bags out of them...didn't have beans at home ;)

Ji had fun filling them.....and chasing all the run-away peas :)

we had fun throwing them into a basket and cardboard-box-lion's-mouth (easy!). and even dad joined us on this one!

1.sew the bottom seam with sewing machine

2. fill with peas ;)                         

3.pin the top part(to hold the peas in place)

4. sew the top seam

5. cut off excess fabric

(6. ...now use the scraps as cleaning rags :)

shoe box pull toy

Ji loves pulling and pushing things around our house all of the time, and i always save shoe boxes, so we decided to make a pull toy. we made our Mates :). a bus would be cute too!                                       

Ji puts all kinds of things in it: wooden blocks, stuffed animals, even his cars :) 

tip: we glued 4 feet on to the bottom - 3 squares of thicker cardboard glued together, so he would be a little elevated and wouldn't drag his stomach on the ground, plus a piece of felt on each to make it less :) noisy!

we also made a bowl of water and some paper dog food and 

Mates even came to see if it was real - it was so funny!:)) 

confetti balloon play

what you need: 

- balloon - at least somewhat see-through

- paper
- hole-punch or scissors

- funnel or tube of some sort

- string

- make some confetti - using a hole-punch or just cut up some tiny strips of paper

- insert a funnel or tube into the mouth of your balloon

(i used a thread bobbin tube) and pour your confetti into the balloon

- blow up balloon and tie a string on and tape/tie to your ceiling/ceiling beam

- play time!

both Ji and St had fun with it....well, i did too! Ji and i ping-ponged it to each other which amused St, then St played with it which amused us :) - i put him within hand's reach of the balloon (...he had the most fun, when he was in his bouncer) and he waved his little hands and feet trying to hit it. and when he succeeded he started screeching with joy - it was so cute :)

paper garland wand

it is REALLY quick and easy to make!!!

takes only 10 minutes and the fun is everlasting!

all you need is:

- plain paper - it "flies" the best!

- scissors

- wand - mine is a wooden craft-stick,

but anything will do - even pencil :)! 

- sewing machine

 - cut paper lengthwise into strips about 4cm wide and have your kids cut them into smaller strips....if they're not all the same width, the better ;)!

- then slowly feed the strips into your sewing machine, leaving gaps between them about 0.5 to 1cm long - Ji and i turned this part into a color game having him find and hand me the color i called out.

- the final length of our garland is 1m, which seems to be the best length - long enough for a nice flying tail but not too long to get tangled!

- tie garland to wand - make a little notch on your wand where you are going to tie your garland on so it doesn't slip.

tiny airplane

 last week, i stumbled upon some wooden cutouts, that i bought a couple of years ago (....well, more like 10yrs ago...pfff, i'm getting old!), intended for making trees for my school models....ended up not using them and a year ago was actually thinking of getting rid of them while on a cleaning-the-attic streak, but i'm glad i didn't, cause they sure came in handy to make a tiny airplane :)

tools:

- elliptical cutouts - precut or DIY - wooden or even card stock (i bought the bag of assorted wooden cutouts way back then i think at Michael's)

- xacto knife - for cutting slits, and elliptical shapes if you don't have premade cutouts like i did

- glue

- color (the most important, kid-part) - pencils, paint, markers, etc.  or just colored card stock .....i like the colored pencils on wood the best!
- optional - jump ring, string/thread .....for playing with it! :)

 directions:
i think the photos of the finished plane are pretty self-explanatory of where to cut the slits in the ellipses. after cutting, color them out and then glue together - since it's tiny, try to use the least amount of glue possible, so there aren't gobs of glue all over the airplane. then, it's play-time!...we attached a jump-ring and "flew" it on a thread flight-course taped to our ceiling beams :)

p.s. with a couple more of them, they would also make a great mobile!

mouse house

Ji had been telling me about some imaginary mice that lived under his bed (....yes, they truly were imaginary!), so one night i decided to stitch up some felt ones. it was a fun surprise for him to find them the next day under his bed.....good thing he wasn't disappointed that they weren't real! 

anyways, so they wouldn't get lost all over the place, we made them a little house (Ji applied the glue and did the coloring :):

p.s. your house doesn't have to be for your mice ;), but

 it's much more fun when it's meant for an inhabitant!

                                                           tools:

note - i use the kitchen knife(the dull side)

for making the bending or crease lines

take apart your box, draw the cut and crease lines,

then cut out your house(don't forget the gluing flaps!)

and openings and make bending/crease lines

then glue together and voila!

and have fun coloring, gluing on colored paper, whatever you (...or your mice :) ) like!